Action Alert - quick and easy to support TNR!

ldg · Sep 4, 2011

On November 5, 2011, U.S. Fish & Wildlife personnel will be offering an all-day workshop at the Wildlife Society Annual Conference in Waikoloa, Hawaii, entitled â€œInfluencing Local Scale Feral Cat Trap-Neuter-Release Decisions.â€ This workshop is supposedly designed specifically for the purpose of training â€œconservation activistsâ€ to protest TNR efforts during the decision-making process.

The workshop will include â€œa public meeting role playing activity and opportunity for participants to debrief and design local strategiesâ€ to discourage elected officials from adopting TNR programs. Other tools (videos, photos, FAQ sheets, model municipal ordinances, etc.) will also be provided to further assist attendees in their future efforts to undermine non-lethal strategies used to address free-roaming cat populations.

Itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s important to note what likely wonâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t be provided at this workshop. Attendees will not be exposed to statistics gathered by towns and municipalities around the nation that prove TNR is an effective tool in saving lives and taxpayer dollars. Attendees will not be given any feasible alternatives to TNR, but rather indoctrinated into continuing the expensive, ineffective method of trap and kill to control free-roaming cat populations.

Undoubtedly, there will be little talk of how TNR programs sterilize the cats, thus curtailing future free-roaming cat population growth, and how fewer cats logically equals less predation. Equally offensive, the organizers will fail to pinpoint a funding source for their recommended solution, while completely ignoring that this blatant rejection of humane alternatives to wildlife conflicts flies in the face of public opinion and decency. Furthermore, attendees wonâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t be hearing about how a full-day workshop declaring war on cats is an unwise use of taxpayer funds.

Itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s about time the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service shifted its mission and started promoting effective, non-lethal resolutions to wildlife concerns â€” specifically, TNR.

Quick and easy to do - just fill in your info! And please spread the word!

http://capwiz.com/bestfriends/issues...ertid=53298501

mrblanche · Sep 4, 2011

Best Friends is very influential. I wouldn't want to get on their bad side on any companion animal debate! I sent the letter.

ldg · Sep 5, 2011

Thank you. I actually work with a small group addressing issues like this, and both The Wildlife Society and the US Fish & Wildlife Service are vehemently anti-TNR. The U.S. GOVERNMENT, however, has no official position. TNR is a state and local issue. In fact - there are TNR programs on some naval bases. In other cases, they've been willing to work with Alley Cat Allies and/or Best Friends to remove the cats. But the USFWS promotes bogus scare-mongering tactics, and it's beyond my comprehension that they're putting together entire programs to COMBAT TNR! It's just wrong, and I definitely do not want my tax dollars being spent in that fashion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Such a waste for something that is proving to save communities money AND be effective.

Here's a quick read on the USFWS issue re: TNR if anyone's interested. US Fish & Wildlife Service declares war on cats at Vox Felina.

feralvr · Sep 7, 2011

Laurie

and a big

for posting this very important thread and message. I hope many other's here on TCS will line up to fight against the scaling TNR efforts and programs.

Excellent article by Vox Felina. Love the last sentence referring to Will and Hutchins roles as truly abysmal performances

. I really enjoyed reading this and appreciate your effort here, Laurie! I am all on-board with this

:

callista · Sep 7, 2011

My area really, really needs a TNR program. We've got ferals all over the place, fighting and using people's flower beds for litter boxes. With the college nearby, there's a steady supply of dumped no-longer-cute kittens. But there's just no money for it. There's a big hole in the road a few blocks over that they haven't fixed; half the roads don't get plowed... There's just no money. The shelters in this area have hardly the money to take care of the cats they have, and the Humane Society is swamped. When I used to help with the ferals back in my old town, it was a pretty well-regulated little colony. But here... you almost never see the same cat twice. It's just chaos. I have no idea how the city would go about starting a TNR program, let alone funding it, with people moving in and out so quickly. Maybe support from the government might help. TNR is cheaper, after all, especially if you can get a vet school to donate their students' time to the neutering. But right now, they just don't have the money for feral management at all.

ldg · Sep 7, 2011

It usually starts with individuals doing it themselves, then finding each other and starting to work as a group, then trying to raise funds. The most important thing in situations like that is that the towns shouldn't pass legislation that would make doing the work illegal.

But that's really the point. Especially in today's economy, what towns CAN afford to pay animal control to round up cats, and then pay shelters to hold them for the five or seven days, and THEN pay to kill them? And why?

Especially when if they spent THAT money on a low-cost spay/neuter program, volunteers usually do the rest of the work.

ldg · Sep 25, 2011

Bumping this up because... WE'RE MAKING A DIFFERENCE!

Enough "noise," in fact, that on September 16, The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service felt the need to write in its "Open Spaces" blog that it has no official position on TNR.

http://www.fws.gov/news/blog/index.c...pNeuterRelease

However, it has NOT canceled the planned workshop on how to counter TNR at The Wildlife Society converence (in Hawaii, Nov 5 - 10) this year.

If anyone is interested in pursuing this, PLEASE use this sample letter to the USFWS to ask them to cancel this workshop!

USFWS contact info:

http://www.fws.gov/duspit/contactus.htm

OR

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20240

http://www.facebook.com/notes/maggie...50312221359474

THANK YOU

feralvr · Sep 26, 2011

I am planning on going to the Feral Fixer's National Feral Cat day fundraiser on October 16!!!!!!! They are all over this U.S. Fish and Wildlife workshop being held to teach conservationists to protest TNR.

YES!! We are making a difference. Thanks, Laurie

for helping us here on TCS learn more about how to take a stand against the USFWS and fight for feral cats.

misstorri · Oct 4, 2011

I actually used to live in Waikoloa! This is precicley where I developed my urge to TNR! There are so many strays and ferals in the area. Its a huge problem there b/c the weather is nice and people think its ok to let cats fend for themselves! There is also limited resources on the island and no spay/neuter clinics open to the public. (at least there werent in 1997-1999) The shelters have a 24hr waiting period before they euthanize. Many people adopt cats to realize they cant afford to maintain them. The cost of living, food, daycare not to mention gas take precidence to anything else. I will sign this immediatley. The entire situation is so sad!

Action Alert - quick and easy to support TNR!

ldg

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mrblanche

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feralvr

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